Transition Salt Spring operates on the land currently known as Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Canada. We respectfully acknowledge that the land we are on is the ancestral and unceded Indigenous lands, specifically the territory of the Hul'qumi'num and SENĆOŦEN-speaking Coast Salish people, and that these lands were stolen from their original inhabitants.

Beneath the surface of any site in present day Canada, there are histories of belonging that have been erased, overlooked, contested, and forgotten.  Despite this, vibrant contemporary communities persist, and continue to endure, create and thrive.

As occupiers of these territories, we recognize the continual displacement of Indigenous people by Canada and are aware that land acknowledgements are often used as an empty stand-in for actual decolonization work.

At Transition Salt Spring, we are doing our best to learn, to organize, and to build relationships with local Nations and tribes, along with other Indigenous people who live here or who call Salt Spring home.

We know there is so much to be done, and we invite everyone to help us with this work.

Salt Spring Island is in unceded Coast Salish territory, meaning it was never formally surrendered or sold via treaty. The island is part of a region where overlapping territorial claims exist due to shared use, kinship ties, and colonial displacement.

The following Nations and tribes have lived on and stewarded the lands and waters of Salt Spring Island for millennia, long before colonization, and continue to maintain their presence and connections here today. This list is continually evolving as our understanding deepens and more histories are recognized and recorded.

SENĆOŦEN-speaking First Nations :

• W̱JOȽEȽP (Tsartlip) First Nation
• W̱SIḴEM (Tseycum) First Nation
• BOḰEĆEN (Pauquachin) First Nation
• SȾÁUTW̱ (Tsawout) First Nation
• MÁLEXEȽ (Malahat) First Nation

Hul'qumi'num-speaking First Nations and Tribes:

• Penelakut Tribe
• Halalt First Nation
• Lyackson First Nation

& Tsawwassen First Nation